By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)
When a
Non-Governmental Organisation, the Patriotic Citizens Initiative (PCI) took its
campaigns against trans-border human trafficking, especially on teenage girls,
to Mile 2 International Park, Lagos, it was because of the strategic nature of
the garage. The organisation has recently, in collaboration with the National
Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP),
taken the campaigns to the garage soliciting the collaboration of the Road Transport
Employers’ Association of Nigeria, ECOWAS Chapter, in the fight against child
trafficking, since the garage has been identified as the exit point to West
African countries like Ghana, Benin, Togo, Sierra-Leone etc. The executive
members of the transport union had promised to collaborate with them to eradicate
such evil activities along that coastal route.
And to make
good their promise, the PCI Director and Founder, Osita Osemene, was promptly informed
when a 16-year-old Ghanaian girl, Fidels Abbas wandered into the garage on
October 30, 2013.
From her
account, she was a victim of child slavery who was running away from her
tormentors. The innocent-looking teenager was bundled from Ghana to Nigeria in
2011, when she was barely 14 years old and dumped at Ibadan by her own mother.
She said her mother had deceived her that she was coming to Nigeria to live
with her senior aunt. But surprisingly, the couple she was handed over to were
not Ghanaians; they were Nigerians.
So, for
more than two years, little Fidels had gone through the most tortuous moments
of her life. She became psychologically troubled and she started planning for
her escape. He mother, according to her, never visited her throughout the
period of her enslavement.
Narrating
how she came to Nigeria in 2011, she said: “I am from Osino in Ghana. I came to
Nigeria in 2011, with my mother, who told me she was taking me to stay with my
senior aunt. She took me to Ogere in Ibadan, where she handed me over to one
pastor and his wife. Before, I left Ghana for Nigeria, I was in primary six. I
am 16 years old.”
On what
happened after her mother dropped her with the couple, she said her mother left
Ibadan for Lagos where she presently lives, but she doesn’t know the place in
Lagos.
Narrating
her sordid experience in the hands of her masters, she said: “I worked for
them. I washed their clothes, including jeans. They would pack all the jeans
for me to wash and they would seriously beat me if I didn’t wash the jeans to
their satisfaction. I also sold sachet water for my madam at Lagos-Ibadan Toll
Gate. I used to make N500 but I would keep N200. I was doing that because they
were maltreating me and I needed to save money to enable me go back to my
father in Ghana.”
“But any
day, I lose money after sales,” she continued, “They would beat hell out of me.
They would cook their own food and ask me to cook my own. If I didn’t cook, I
wouldn’t eat. I ate only two times in a day. Sometimes, they would not give me stew
to eat the white rice, so I would eat it like that. I always ate Amala and
rice.”
One would
think she was being paid for her services or her mother was collecting money on
her behalf, but Fidels wouldn’t know if such condition existed. She said: “They
were not paying me any money and I don’t know if they were paying my mother. I
was working for them as a slave.”
Although,
her mother promised she would continue with her education in Nigeria, the
pastor and his wife only enrolled her into primary five just in August. “Since
2011 that I came to stay with them, I have been working for them without going
to school until last month when they enrolled me into primary five,” she cried.
She
neither knew the man’s name nor that of his wife. All she knew was that the man
is a pastor and she called his wife ‘mummy.’ She also knew that they live at 20,
Bose Street Ogere.
Last straw that broke the camel’s back
Although,
she had started saving money in preparation for her escape to Ghana, whenever
the opportunity calls, she disappeared when they least expected. The couple had
scolded and upbraided her for calling her father on phone. She said: “When the
maltreatment was becoming too much, I called my father on phone, although I
didn’t tell him what I was going through; I told him I wanted to know how he
was faring. My father called my mother to inform her that I called and my
mother called the family I was living with to inform them and to warn them that
I should not be allowed again to communicate with my father. My mother also
called me on phone and threatened to deal ruthlessly with me if I called my
father again. The man and his wife scolded me; they almost beat me as my mother
instructed them but they later changed their minds and only warned me never to
try that again. That made me to run away.”
She said
after the couple scolded her for speaking with her father, she made enquiries
on how to get to Ghana and she was told to go to Lagos first before she could
go to Ghana. Armed with the information, she left the house when her tormentors
were not around and headed to Lagos.
Fidels in Lagos
When she
got to Lagos, she didn’t know where to go. She was wandering aimlessly and
asking questions and that attracted a large crowd, who gathered to listen to
her story. An Okada rider, after listening to her pathetic story volunteered to
help her and took her to Mile Park, where she was handed over to Augustine
Eroteme, an executive member to the transport union.
Why she wants to go back to Ghana
“I want
to go back to my father; I want to go back to my homeland. I don’t like the kind of treatment I was
getting there and that’s why I want to go back. When I was leaving, they didn’t
know. So, I want to go back to Ghana,” she cried repeatedly.
Asked if
she would be able to find her way to her father’s house from the park in Ghana
if she was taken there, she said: “Yes, I will be able to find my way to my
father’s house from the park in Ghana if I get there.”
Transport Union’s angle
When the Deputy
Chairman, Operations, Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria, ECOWAS
Chapter, Mile 2, Lagos, Augustine Eroteme, whom the unknown Okada rider handed
Fidels over to, was contacted, he said he quickly contacted Mr Osemene when it
became obvious from the girl’s account that she was a victim of child
trafficking.
Narrating
how it all happened, he said: “We were just here this afternoon when one Okada
rider brought this small girl to me. He said the girl was stranded somewhere and
she was surrounded by so many people when he got there. He said he took pity on
her after he interviewed her and found out that she was from Ghana and couldn’t
find her way. He said he decided to bring her to the park because he knew that
he would find Ghanaians in the park, who would take the girl back home. He said
when he asked the girl where she was coming from, she told him she was living
with somebody but the person chased her out of the house.”
After the
Okada rider had narrated how and why he assisted the girl to the park, Eroteme
took the girl over from him and promised to put her in a vehicle going to
Ghana. But before he did that, he also subjected the girl to more questioning,
during which he discovered more facts. He found out that the girl was too young
to be exposed to that kind of risk. He asked the girl for her mother’s contact
but she couldn’t provide any. He also asked for her father’s contact, which she
did at once; she had her father’s phone number off heart. When Eroteme called
her father and informed him of his daughter’s predicament, he pleaded that the
girl be put in a Ghana-bound vehicle; a request which was turned down out
rightly by Eroteme, who insisted that the girl was too young to be exposed to such
risk. Besides, he was afraid that if anything happened to the girl, he would be
held responsible.
“I asked
the girl how much she had and she said N2000. I asked her if she had her
father’s phone number and she gave me. I called her father and told him that
his daughter was with me and that I didn’t know what to do. He said I should
put her inside a Ghana bound vehicle, so that he would pay the driver on
arrival in Ghana but I told him point black that I would not do that because
the girl was too young to be exposed to such risk. Almost immediately, one
woman called me and said the girl was her daughter. She asked me to put the
girl on an Iyana-Oba bound vehicle, so that from there she would proceed to Iju
in Agege. I told her I wouldn’t do that because if anything happens to the
girl, I would be held responsible,” he stated.
With the
last conversation with a woman who claimed to be the girl’s mother, coupled
with what the girl had earlier revealed, Eroteme was sure it was a case of
child trafficking. “That was how I called Osita Osemene of the Patriotic Citizen’s
Initiative, since we collaborate with his organisation and NAPTIP. I want to
hand the girl over to him, so that they would take proper care of the girl and
ensure she is safely re-united with her father in Ghana,” Eroteme said.
Osemene reacts
Reacting
to the development, Osemene said: “I think it is a good development because
what he has done is part of our agreement with them here in the park. We had
come here severally for sensitization programme. We urged them to inform us any
time they suspect human trafficking within the park. The last time we came,
they agreed to partner with us in identifying victims of child trafficking,
while we come to rescue them and hand over to NAPTIP, which is the body legally
responsible for war against trafficking in human beings. So, I got a call
concerning this girl and when I came, I asked her few questions and discovered
that her case is very pathetic. A lot of things need to be investigated because
she came in a questionable circumstance. So, I contacted the Zonal Commander of
NAPTIP, Joseph Famakin, who asked me to bring the girl for further investigation
and necessary action. That will be followed by the eventual hand over of the
girl to her father in Ghana.”
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